McLemore's late injury only scare in romp over Baylor

The last time the Jayhawks played in Allen Fieldhouse, they got torched.

Iowa State camped behind the arc and launched a steady barrage of 3-pointers, only to watch Ben McLemore send the game into overtime with a 3-pointer he never should have been allowed to shoot.

Well, there was no such 3-point binge Monday as Kansas smothered Baylor, 61-44. No frayed nerves in the final seconds. No suspense from McLemore.

Check that. The one cause for concern was prompted by McLemore. The freshman sensation turned his right ankle with 2:44 remaining and left for the locker room at that point with a game-high 17 points.

The injury was not considered serious, though the full house pleaded with the heavens for an instant, including the Jayhawks themselves.

“My heart dropped to see somebody like that, who has worked so hard, go down,’’ senior guard Elijah Johnson said. “He doesn’t deserve to be hurt. I feel like he’s been cheated enough.’’

Everyone wonders how McLemore would have impacted the Jayhawks last season when they reached the national championship game.

Everyone now wonders if Kansas can make it back to the Final Four behind McLemore’s explosive presence.

Just before he went down against the Bears, the 6-foot-5 wing drained a 3-pointer and then converted a lob feed from Travis Releford with alarming authority.

Still, before McLemore ever needed an ice pack for his ankle, the Jayhawks had long iced their win with defense. They forced 16 turnovers, held Baylor to 23 percent shooting and swatted 13 shots. It looked as if Jeff Withey had been giving lessons in the art of rejection. Six different KU players had blocks.

“It wasn’t an artistic game,’’ KU coach Bill Self said.

No need to be. Not all the time. And particularly not against Baylor, which seems to function best when it wheels and deals in full AAU mode by letting talent dictate strategy.

That talent, which includes one of the nation’s top-rated true freshmen, Isaiah Austin, never got cooking.

Austin secured a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, but was flustered into four turnovers. Brady Heslip, a 3-point specialist, fired just one attempt from that distance and missed it. And Pierre Jackson, the BU point guard who came in with a Big 12-best average of 19.2 points, missed 10 of his 12 tries and scored 10 points.

Nice D. Much needed, too, after Johnson was tagged with his second foul barely four minutes into the first half.

“I’m more happy with our team for how we went through this swing of games in eight days,’’ Johnson said of the four wins KU posted over that span. “We handled it well. I’m proud of our team for being able to stand up and keep playing and ignore the fatigue in our bodies.’’

The Jayhawks ignored to the extent they held Baylor to its lowest output since 1994. The last KU opponent to score fewer points was Nebraska in 2007, when it managed 39.

Maybe KU is blessed to have Doc Sadler on its staff. Better yet, it is blessed to have talent superior to any team in the Big 12. Talent that appears to be buying into some of the defensive principles Self always emphasizes.

If, indeed, the Jayhawks can apply themselves consistently on that end, they are only going to get better. As it is, they’re ranked fourth and on a 14-game winning streak.

“That’s pretty good defense from start to finish for the most part,’’ Self said. “We had a lot of guys block shots and that’s the most active we’ve been with our hands as far as raking and stealing the ball.’’

Not much artistry. Just intensity.

Enough to make Baylor wilt. Enough to make you wonder just how many more times the Jayhawks’ perch atop the Big 12 standings will be threatened. They’re three games into league play and ahead at 3-0.